I often write about or quote 37 Signals here, largely due to the respect I have for them as designers/developers and for the way they manage their business.
This week Matt Linderman has written the article “Advice for entrepreneurs: Throw out that five-year plan, build something now, and don’t take any money” where he’s brought together thoughts from 2 articles, in this month’s Best Life magazine, by Greg Gianforte and Mark Cuban respectively:
Gianforte describes how to build a company from sales rather than enlisting professional financiers. The secret is to stop sweating your five-year plan and start moving the product from day one. If your business idea requires more money than you have at hand, then shrink the idea.
“An entrepreneur getting started doesn’t need a $100 million idea,” says Gianforte. “A $1 million idea is enough. The beauty of a $1 million idea is that big companies don’t care about it. Find a niche within a niche.”
… and from Mark Cuban:
Sweat equity is the best equity. “Taking money from someone else kills more start-ups than anything else does. Do everything you can to avoid taking money. If you must, your best prospects are potential customers. You have something they want, so if they invest in you, it can be a win-win situation.”
As always, it’s the comments that the articles at 37 Signals inspire that are really worth reading as they tend to be from people like you and me at various stages of the entrepreneurial game.
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